What Bird Paintings Portray on the Pre-Hispanic Thinking in Mexico

Abstract

Thanks to the chronicles and accounts of the conquerors and friars who arrived to Mexico, much valuable information is available to us on the forms of knowledge, use and handling of natural resources in the Pre-Hispanic world, which were vast and significant. Fortunately for all of us, the material use of bird resources has been documented and catalogued. However, the value attached to the use of bird paintings has been left aside, despite being an important iconographic element throughout both time and cultures, having a significant impact on a people's worldview. That is why we want to account for the experience arisen from the studies on taxonomic identity and on the symbolic role of the birds portrayed in the walls of various archaeological sites in Mexico, taking into consideration the levels of graphical representation and thematic integration. This essay takes into account the archaeological information found on the site, as well as historical, ethnographic and cultural factors, including religious beliefs. One of the consequences of these studies is that a major inventory has been taken on those bird species used and valued not only as iconographic elements.